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Mockbuster
Sun
26
Sun 26 Oct 12:45 PM
The Mercury
General Admission
Unclassified 15+
90 Mins October
Once-promising South Australian filmmaker Anthony Frith, now languishing in the world of corporate video, brazenly pitches himself to Hollywood’s kings of B-movie schlock, The Asylum, and somehow lands the gig. The studio behind Sharknado (motto: ‘shitty movies for people with bad taste’) hires him to direct The Land That Time Forgot, a lost-world dinosaur epic to be shot in suburban Adelaide on a six-day schedule and a shoestring budget.
Scorsese, Coppola and Demme all got their starts with this kind of movie, so why not? But Anthony has another camera rolling too – he is also directing the behind-the-scenes documentary, capturing the chaos and compromise of full-blown exploitation filmmaking. Between demanding LA executives, a game but bewildered cast, and his own creeping self-doubt, the pressure builds. Mockbuster is an unexpectedly tender documentary about chasing the dream through the absurd hustle of genre filmmaking, but finding a different kind of success behind the scenes.
Scorsese, Coppola and Demme all got their starts with this kind of movie, so why not? But Anthony has another camera rolling too – he is also directing the behind-the-scenes documentary, capturing the chaos and compromise of full-blown exploitation filmmaking. Between demanding LA executives, a game but bewildered cast, and his own creeping self-doubt, the pressure builds. Mockbuster is an unexpectedly tender documentary about chasing the dream through the absurd hustle of genre filmmaking, but finding a different kind of success behind the scenes.
October